A long time ago... and right now too

The pictures in this post are from a while ago. We took Kaden to his first real "carnival" - a local night time fair with expensive rides and crazy eats and new! things! everywhere! We went with some friends (his age and ours!) and had a blast. He was totally blown away by every ride, and only a little apprehensive at times. Otherwise, a real pro at adapting his reality to this new, fast and furious life.



So tonight, some relatives arrived for a visit. As I type, there's six kids sleeping all over the floor in one bedroom, 2 parentals with a one year old babe in the other, and Jim snoring on the air mattress. We have plans to go to the beach, to church, to find wild alligators. I imagine this weekend will be just like that fair: a lot of noise, a lot of excitement, a lot of fun, and passing by in a blur, over way too soon.



And isn't that Holy Week, too? Things that aren't that different somehow seem exciting because of the light we shine on them, the attention we give to symbol and detail, the way we dive to the bottom of our own personal and communal suffering barrels... all to have it end in a mad rush of excitement and celebration on Sunday. It's a blur, but it only feels right, makes any sense or is any fun if our friends are nearby. And then we go back to normal life, except sometimes we have to adjust 'normal' to somehow include an understanding of this latest stuff.

But maybe that's not it at all, and maybe it's just where my head is right now. A very close friend of ours lost her mom last week. I can't stop praying for her. Thinking about everything- palm sunday, old fair visits- and trying to make it fit her new reality. How the life of our relationships are stretched and gathered and let loose... it may be that everyone else has or will someday go through this... but we are caught up in the newness of it all, along for the ride in the dark of night, looking for friends to help us through the apprehension.

Fire Trucks, Treasure Maps and Puppet Shows

Today was a good day. Fridays tend to be my favorite days, mostly because I rarely work on Friday. Sometimes I plan on cleaning or running fun errands, but some days we just play. We had lots to play with today. Earlier this week, Grandma and Pop sent Kaden an awesome little fire truck. It's loud, but not annoyingly so :)


Then yesterday we came home to a package on the doorstep. "For meeeeeee?" Kaden asked? Yup, it's all yours little man. Turns out a cool uncle and his family sent a great envelope stuffed with kaden's favorite things: superheros, pirates, coloring and stickers!

There was one very intricate drawing from our nephew with lots of pirates on a boat. First, our boy ran for his sword and tried to find his 'pirate hat' (a bandanna). Then, he studied his cousin's creation for a while, before declaring it his treasure map. It was awesome, as he pointed out who was who (here's Tali, and here's me and here's you Mommy).


We had another fun playdate today, with 3 friends coming over. I had bought some cute foam-y Easter crafts last night, when I realized I hadn't prepared any cool recycling ones :) There were stick puppets, which resulted in hilarious "shows" - one or more kids hiding behind the chair, shouting somewhat recognizable phrases and then falling down laughing. They were pretty good at taking turns, and I think the 20 second actual show time helped!!

Oh, and here's Sir Kaden, knight of all Florida and Pennsylvania too. You can see his knight hat, his sword, his trusty steed who is apparently named "My Turtle" and his maniacal laugh and he rides to rescue someone.

Here the 4 kids are crafting nicely. Hey, maybe I should plan ahead for when the 6 cousins all come to stay, too :)

Welcome to the Swamp

Technically, it's a "slough".

A wonderland of water filtration and flow adjustment.

A nursery for young'uns...

to grow big...

to pause and reflect...

to explore.

Beautiful. Peaceful.

Welcome to our sort of woods.

What a day!

Saturday was quite the day in these parts. I was up at the crack of dawn (literally) since a few area churches were partnering together on a women's retreat day. Mom and I arrived at 8am to set up, and found a handful of early bird attendees! Then one of our awesome teen volunteers didn't show up to babysit-- turns out someone had sideswiped her on the drive in! She was okay, thank God, but her pride and joy mustang shelby wasn't. Yikes. It was go-go-go all day-- but totally worth it. If you haven't heard the inspiration music of Sarah Hart, do yourself a favor and check her out. She is down to earth and goofy and easy to relate to... and when she sings, it's honest and just wow. I'd really like to attend one of her days as a regular attendee...

 ... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the boys were getting ready for our neighbor twins bday party at the park. They got down there about 10 am, and stayed over 3 hours! Kade had lots of stories to tell about the swings, digging in the dirt (?!), the cupcakes and the water balloons...

Then, the fam met up at Applebee's for dinner- it's hard to believe, but Saturday was the 11th anniversary of Dad's death. We try to do something nice that reminds him of us - and that was one of his restaurants. Though, to be fair, in 11 years it's quite possible he'd be mad at them for something and have moved on to another place! ...

Afterwards, continuing the remembering-dad-theme, we were walking around Mom's backyard. There's a H-U-G-E moringa tree that he planted as a wee seedling... we were picking the seed pods, and I was thinking that it'd be nice to plant more trees... when there was a sudden CRACK!!!! and the ENTIRE TREE BRANCH fell on me. I'd very much like to say that I nimbly stepped out of the way, but that is patently untrue. I'd also like to claim that I shouldered the branch in order to protect my young son, but I was told after the fact that HE was quick enough to get out of the way. The truth is, as much as it pains me to admit, I simply screamed and ducked like a coward, and the 4 foot branch whacked me good. Ow.

... Later, we headed home and I jumped on facebook to check for a msg reply when a notice popped up: "Event- EARTH HOUR. Happening - Now." Oh, shoot, I yelled to the family- it's Earth Hour- turn everything off already! We were only 4 minutes behind, but I figured we needed to act quick or we'd drift into missing it. You probably know this, but it is much easier to live without electricity when you properly plan. The first flashlight we grabbed had dead batteries, we couldn't find the second, and the only candles in the house were the tea lights (the hurricane kit apparently was disbanded). Picture me running around the house turning off lights, with Kade following and saying "whatcha doing, mama" and Jim yelling "leave ONE on so I can find these batteries!" It was a very amusing 3 minute drill. ... In the end, we had "practice camping" with a flashlight lantern. I mentioned that I couldn't believe we hadn't taken Kaden camping for real yet, and Jim replied "He's not even three yet. (pause.) So what if he's been to scotland and on a cruise? He's a bit young to do everything!"